The Supreme State Audit (known locally as KLSH) published on Thursday the final report on the management of the epidemiological situation by COVID-19 in Albania, where it criticized the Ministry of Health for mismanaging the pandemic.
KLSH says that the responsible institutions had a lack of hospital capacity, insufficient financial funds, deficiencies in the stock of personal protection materials, insufficiency in the training of medical staff, insecurity in the workplace, etc.
"The increase in the number of requests for testing, the non-functioning of regional hospitals and laboratories were accompanied by an increase in the waiting time of citizens from the completion of the buffer to receiving the response from the virology laboratory. "As a result has been increased the number of patients treated with antibiotics without being confirmed to be infected with COVID-19, as well as those who started treatment late pending test results," the report said, as Euronews Albania reports.
KLSH suggests re-accreditation of non-public laboratories for Covid-19.
The SAI report also states that the Ministry of Health has decided to recognize the right of 8 non-public laboratories to perform the RT-PCR test for SARS-COV-2, which has no legal reference cited in the Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection.
"Consequently, this decision-making by MSHMS is unfounded and contrary to the Law", the report states.
According to KLSH, the National Health Strategy 2016-2020 lacked concrete action plans at the strategic and operational level, objectives, and adaptation for the pandemic and says that delays in time-related to the health situation reporting system endangered the lives of citizens, but also medical staff.
The report states that there was and is a lack of a plan of measures for the recovery of the economy after COVID-19 and adds that so far "there is still no complete concrete plan or even a draft for economic recovery."
KLSH also says that the delayed exit from the time of the onset of the pandemic of the order for the reimbursement of Covid patients and their failure to inform them with the appropriate means of information by family doctors in health centers brought an "inhuman and social treatment of patients”.